Contract Talks With Brockton School Bus Drivers Stall

BROCKTON (CBS) — Contract talks between the bus company that serves the Brockton School Department and bus drivers have stalled and bus service could be unavailable Monday, school officials said.

If there is no bus service Monday, officials said schools will open earlier than usual to allow parents to drop off children early.

On Friday, officials from First Student Transportation, the private contractor that provides busing services to Brockton students, told School Department Superintendent Kathleen A. Smith that contract talks between the company and its bus driver union had stalled, adding that a strike on Monday was possible, according to a prepared statement from the school district.

Parents updates were set to be sent out via telephone calls “so that we can all work together to ensure that schools open with the least possible disruption on Monday,” according to the school district statement.

If the buses run Monday, students will be picked up at the regular time at their regular bus stops.

If the buses don’t run, the school district statement said:

Parents should take their children directly to school.

Information would be updated on the school district’s website, on Brockton Channel 98 and via Blackboard Connect telephone calls.

Schools would be staffed to welcome bus students early — Brockton High School beginning at 6 a.m.; and all middle, K-8 and elementary schools at 7 a.m. Breakfast would be provided.

Students should be picked up from school at the regularly scheduled dismissal time.

There are 17,000 students in the city’s school system and about 9,000 of them use buses.